NWF Member Photos: Windows to the Wild

Landscapes and wildlife photographed while viewed in, through or reflected by windows

05-14-2012
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NWF Staff

Raccoon Peek-a-Boo

EACH SPRING FOR THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS,a female raccoon has given birth in the attic of a vacant house next door to Heidi Tibbetts’ New Hampshire home. Though the kits disperse in fall when they are about six months old, these two returned for a visit one winter. They didn’t hang around long, Tibbetts says. “Once they’re grown, raccoons like a space of their own.”

Bison Jam

TRAPPED IN A "BISON JAM"in the Hayden Valley of Yellowstone National Park, amateur photographer and park employee Lori Wilkinson cautiously rolled down her window to record the action. “These battling bulls were so close to the car that I had to use my zoom lens on its widest-angle setting,” she recalls. “It was quite scary actually, even though I knew we were safe in the car.”

Reflections on 9/11

THE DATE WAS SEPTEMBER 11, 2001. Diane Johnson and a group of fellow photographers had just arrived in Jackson, Wyoming, when they heard what had happened in Washington, D.C., and New York City. “We were glued to the TV for hours, watching in shock,” she says. Heading out finally for a photo shoot—“a diversion from the events”—she spotted this weathered window that captured a perfect reflection of the Grand Teton Range.

Hungary's Bird of the Year

VISITING AN UNINHABITED FARM near the village of Bonyhád-Börzsöny, Hungary, Zoltán Ritzel took refuge from the rain in a small building. He discovered he was not alone. These two great tits also were seeking shelter by clinging to the outside of a window. In the same family as North American tufted titmice and chickadees, great tits are common throughout Europe. In Hungary, says Ritzel,the Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Society named the species “bird of the year.”

Barn Owls at Home

AT THE AGE OF TWO MONTHS,these barn owls were just beginning to leave their nest inside an old barn near Dinero, Texas. “At dusk, they would go short distances as they were practicing to fly and learning to hunt,” says photographer Rolf Nussbaumer. “Whenever I go to a ranch to take photos, I look into barns and other structures,” he adds. “The majority of the time I find nesting barn owls, which, when there’s ample food, can have two or even three broods a year.”